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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

9mo constantly nursing at night

16 replies

theUrbanDryad · 01/10/2007 17:57

hi - could really do with some advice here. since we started co-sleeping ds has been sleeping so much better, waking up once to feed then nursing back to sleep which was fine. however for the past couple of nights he's been nursing for hours at a time, then really faffing at the breast as well. he's not usually a restless sleeper but he's been thrashing around and keeping us all awake!

any advice would be welcome - it feels like i found one solution (the co-sleeping) and another just appears!

OP posts:
Livvigirl · 01/10/2007 21:50

Hi, how old is your baby? I have;nt really been on here before, so what does ds mean?
I breast fed my girl (who's 3 now) but untill she was 13 months old, up untill she was 8 months she never slept through, then one day my health visitor said it is like someone telling you they'll give you 10 pounds at 3am every day, you'd get up for it would'nt you??, so after then I let my girl cry a couple of nights, only for about 20 min or so, and after 3 days she was sleeping through and never had to do night feeds again, but it really does depend on how old your child is, if very young then obviously they need feeding, you just have to remember that this time will pass sooooooo quickly, it does'nt seem like it now, but I promise it does, thne you'll look back with fond memory's as I am doing now!!!

Livvigirl · 01/10/2007 21:50

Hi, how old is your baby? I have;nt really been on here before, so what does ds mean?
I breast fed my girl (who's 3 now) but untill she was 13 months old, up untill she was 8 months she never slept through, then one day my health visitor said it is like someone telling you they'll give you 10 pounds at 3am every day, you'd get up for it would'nt you??, so after then I let my girl cry a couple of nights, only for about 20 min or so, and after 3 days she was sleeping through and never had to do night feeds again, but it really does depend on how old your child is, if very young then obviously they need feeding, you just have to remember that this time will pass sooooooo quickly, it does'nt seem like it now, but I promise it does, thne you'll look back with fond memory's as I am doing now!!!

Original poster
theUrbanDryad · 01/10/2007 22:04

hi Livvi - ds is dear/darling son (there is an acronym list at the top of the page) and he's 9months.

i know what you're saying, but i really don't want to leave him to cry, especially as we co-sleep, it would mean none of are getting any sleep! i don't mind nursing him at night, it's just that lately he's been really fidgety, so i wonder whether it's his new teeth (he's had 2 come through in the past couple of weeks, and another one's on its way) making his latch a bit funny, or whether it could be wind, or whether 9 months is a common time for a growth spurt.

as i said in my OP, it feels like i found a solution to one problem, which was him not sleeping very well, and now something else has come up. in the night when i'm trying to nurse him back to sleep and he's fidgeting and crying it feels like i'm fighting with him. i love co-sleeping and it worked so well for us for a few weeks, but now i'm wondering whether i should stick with it!!

god, i do ramble on! welcome to MN, by the way!

OP posts:
massivebigpantsface · 01/10/2007 22:18

hi urban

my 8m dd has been a bit like this for the last few weeks and I have put it down to not being too well, teething etc. I don't really have any advice i'm afraid but really I think I have found it easier to just get on with it and try not to come up with an answer for it all(sorry - [vague]!
She changes so much at this age and all the little problems that I have felt that I have encountered so far have righted themselves over time, as dd has got that little bit older.
The biggest problem is probably the worrying about it- 'am I doing this right? Should she be doing that? How can I ...? etc etc. Once I made a point of just letting it all go and thinking 'ok, at the moment dd wakes up 4/5 times a night - deal with it, it won't be forever' I really relaxed and stopped trying to enforce behaviour/routine that just is not going to happen, like you have already done with co-sleeping I guess.
sorry, i'm rambling now! not much help either - sorry! Its just that I can identify with what you are saying

trixymalixy · 01/10/2007 22:20

Hi UD,

It probably is just a phase or his teeth bothering him.

Ds does this as well, I start thinking that things are getting better sleep-wise and then he'll revert to being up all night again, but then things'll get better again.

I co-sleep in that DS starts off the night in his cot and I bring him into bed when he wakes for a feed and if i fall asleep then he stays in bed with us, but if I wake up again then I'll put him back in his cot.

Original poster
theUrbanDryad · 01/10/2007 22:23

Trixy - we have a cot that has had the side taken off it, which is then put right up against our bed, like an extension of our bed. he always starts off in there, but generally curls up to us after a bit! i do love co-sleeping, and so does dh, and i'm not even sure he'd go into a narrow cot now, but we're all so knackered at the moment it's getting really hard!

OP posts:
massivebigpantsface · 01/10/2007 22:24

same here trixy.
I used to think I would always make sure dd slept in her cot, no matter what ...

.. now I think: big deal! lets all get some sleep!!!! (and have a nice cuddle up too )

Original poster
theUrbanDryad · 01/10/2007 22:28

i've always been very relaxed about ds coming into our bed - i have friends who co-slept with their kids till they asked to go into their own room, and now they sleep beautifully, whereas parents who enforced routine etc (a la SWMNBN or Claire bitchface Verity) have very clingy children who now don't sleep later on!

so 9 months isn't a common growth spurt time then? i was wondering if my supply had dipped because he's having more solids now?

OP posts:
massivebigpantsface · 01/10/2007 22:29

urban, you will probably have been told this countless times over the last 9 months, but nap when he naps!
I think you are a sahm am I right? Even if you get an extra 40mins here and there it will help.
I never ever did this when dd was a newborn but have had to recently.
I think the term 'boneshattering tiredness' is quite a good one...

Original poster
theUrbanDryad · 01/10/2007 22:30

mbpf - i just can't sleep in the day! i can't, i know it's stupid, but i just feel awful and groggy and ten times worse! and when he naps is my time to do the washing up and have a shower, otherwise we have no clean paltes and i look like even more of a scarecrow than i already do!!

OP posts:
trixymalixy · 01/10/2007 22:32

I have friends who always co-slept and before we had DS, my DH and I were iescussing how wierd it was and how we would never do it. LOL!!!

Then I discovered how much more rested i was feeding Ds lying down and how nice it was to have DS in bed with us.

trixymalixy · 01/10/2007 22:35

I'm the same UD, I just can't nap during the day at all.

Was your Ds one of the Jan babes who has had a cold recently? I felt that my supply had dipped when we both had a bad cold and then we had a few days where he just wanted to feed constantly which I think must have been him trying to boost it again. Either that or it was just a growth spurt.

massivebigpantsface · 01/10/2007 22:41

that would make sense trixy - dd just getting over a cold too. Medi-sed not quite good enough to get them through the night tho' ay?!

Original poster
theUrbanDryad · 01/10/2007 22:53

trixy - no, he's not just had a cold (think he's the only Jan 07 baby who hasn't though!), though it does make sense what you say.

i just miss when he was tiny and would sleep for hours and hours on end, and he'd fall asleep on my chest on the sofa probably not the same with a toddler running around though, eh?

OP posts:
trixymalixy · 01/10/2007 23:41

My SIL was staying at the weekend with her 6 week old, made me broody wistful for those early days.

Only other thing I can think of is that your DS is feeding just cause you're there. Sometimes my DS turns over and mouths like he wants fed, but if he can't find me then goes back to sleep. Maybe don't cuddle so close or cover up?

onelittlelion · 01/10/2007 23:48

My ds is a bit older and some nights I still feel like a human dummy others he takes what he needs a roles over! I also tought weird to sleep with your baby but ds wakes up about midnight and cmes to bed with me and will miss it when he is ready to be mr independent!

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